Marpa Lotsawa Quotes
Marpa Lotsawa, called Chokyi Lodro, was an eleventh-century Tibetan Buddhist translator and tantric master, the principal pupil of the Indian Mahasiddha Naropa, and the founder of the Tibetan Kagyu lineage of Mahamudra teachings. He made three long journeys to India to study with Naropa and other Indian masters, returning each time to translate the Hevajra Tantra, the Guhyasamaja Tantra, and the meditative instructions of the Six Yogas of Naropa into Tibetan. The quotes below are attributed to Marpa Lotsawa, organized by topic.
Marpa Lotsawa on Freedom
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Attributed to Marpa Lotsawa:
“The householder Yogi has no excuse, and so no escape, from awakening.”
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“To professors of Sakara, "freedom from the four extremes" means understanding that the object of cognition exists in a momentary mode, empty of thought-constructions and lacking objectification.”
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“To professors of Mayopamadvaya, "freedom from the four extremes" is [to know that] the characteristics are false, and [in reality] clear light. The following system had evidence for its beliefs.”
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“To know the emptiness of objects is to know emptiness free of appearance and free of coverings. That is the Middle Way from which the "subsequent" or conventional has been purged.”
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Marpa Lotsawa on Knowledge
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Attributed to Marpa Lotsawa:
“I traveled to India three times for the Dharma; what I brought back was less than what I learned in the going.”
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Attributed to Marpa Lotsawa:
“Translation is not the carrying of words across; it is the carrying of mind across.”
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Attributed to Marpa Lotsawa:
“Tilopa is in Naropa; Naropa is in me; in due time, I shall be in my pupils.”
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“Middle way" is defined [by professors of Nirakara] in terms of a self-awareness that is not nil; it appears as blue, etc. objects, but characteristics do not arise in it.”
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“The Madhyamasatka of Metri ,The Tibetan and Himalayan Library, Adyar. Library Bulletin vol. 25, pp. 539-49. (1961)”
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Marpa Lotsawa on Love
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Attributed to Marpa Lotsawa:
“What is given by a true teacher cannot be measured by the time it took to give it.”